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<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
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<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=research@milliner.com href="mailto:research@milliner.com">Chad
Milliner</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=apgpubliclist@apgen.org
href="mailto:apgpubliclist@apgen.org">apgpubliclist@apgen.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, March 08, 2011 11:41
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [APG Public List]
Abbreviations of given names</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>The discussion of the Jno. abbreviation of "John" called to my
mind something that has always puzzled me -- why?&nbsp; If you include the
period, then abbreviating John as Jno really saves no space and is the same
number of characters.&nbsp; How did this abbreviation become so commonly
used?&nbsp; There seems to me to be no obvious reason.<BR><BR>I suppose that
if a person felt that they HAD to abbreviate "John" then switching the "n" and
the "o" might be useful in making clear that it was "John" that you abbrviated
and not "Jonathan".&nbsp; But since John is such a short word, why abbreviate
it at all?<BR><!-- -->
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I have surmised that handwriting everything&nbsp;was
laborious, especially for the ministers and clerks who wrote the same phrases
over and over again. Writing "John" out does require the upstroke of the "h,"
while abbreviating it "Jno." keep the "n," the&nbsp;"o," and the period in the
lower, easier,&nbsp;range of writing the letters.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bonnie Dunphy Kohler</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>South Florida</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>